Clubs Devote 3 Days To Dogs Declared Best Of Their Kinds

Three area dog clubs coordinated their efforts to present what is known in their business as a cluster show, and in the process made this weekend nothing short of hound heaven for canine lovers.

Closing out three days of dog shows at Lockhart Stadium was the Greater Miami Dog Club show on Sunday. The Fort Lauderdale Dog Club held its show Saturday and the Combined Specialty Clubs of Miami held a show Friday evening.

David Leslie, chairman of the Greater Miami Dog Club, said about 1,800 spectators turned out for Sunday`s show. That count doesn`t included the owners on hand to show the 1,070 dogs entered in the show, he said.

But Leslie said it is not the number of dogs entered in a show, but the number of breeds represented -- 105 at Sunday`s show -- that is important.

For the uninitiated, the Pharaoh hound is one of the oldest breeds in the world and, as the name suggests, a hunting dog favored by the Pharaohs.

The Pharaoh hound gained equal favor in Malta, where the breed was kept intact over the centuries, said Michael-Jon Boone of Fort Lauderdale. There are less than 700 of the dogs in the country, including the one standing at his side, Boone said.

And Schipperkes? It`s hard to imagine that Pumpkin, at 13 pounds and perhaps 10 inches tall, belongs to a breed favored for guard duty and rat hunting aboard European barges. But that`s what Schipperkes are known for in their native Belgium, said Pumpkin`s owner, Diane Fike of Lighthouse Point.

Fike was among the seven owners whose dogs took top honors on Sunday. Fike`s Champion Hollywoods Raindancer, a Schipperkes, took best-of-the-breed honors in the non-sporting breeds variety group, one of seven variety groups.

The award of best dog in the show went to a Saluki -- ``The only dog mentioned by name in the Bible,`` Leslie said -- that also captured top honors in the hound breeds variety group.